Elevated in the Passive Voice

08/03/01 entry in a notebook

Jut read a passage in Apollinaire
Voici s'élever des prophètes
Comme au loin des collines bleues
Ils sauront des choses précises
Comme croient savoir les savants
Et nous transporteront partout
The last line of this stanza could be (and is by some translators) rendered "And they'll transport us everywhere". My temptation is to play with the "transport".

And from anywhere we will be transported.

I.e. from anywhere we will have access to transport

This passive form in English does a fair job of translating the (reflexive pronoun + verb) form of the French. As well the Petit Robert gives for transport au sens figuré voir agitation, élan, enthousiasme, exaltation, ivresse. All apt for the rising prophets of the first line. We are less preoccupied by a destination (everywhere) and by a process or state of being (transport).

And so for day 1982
17.05.2012